Title: Proposals of Mr. Sydney David Taiwhanga, M.H.R., for the Colonization and Settlement of Maori Lands

Author: Sydney David Taiwhanga

Publication details: Edwards & Co., 1888, Wellington

Part of: He reo ture nō ngā iwi Māori whānui / Māori community generated language

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

The first meeting at which this Treaty was presented to the Northern Chiefs for their approval and adoption was held at Mr. Busby's station, at Waitangi, on the 5th and 6th February, 1840; and which was fully reported by the Lieutenant-Governor to His Excellency Sir George Gipps, in the following despatch:

Her Majesty's Ship "Herald,"Bay of Islands, 5th February, 1840.

Sir,

—I have the honor to acquaint Your Excellency that immediately on my arrival here I circulated notices, printed in the Native languages, that on this day I would hold a meeting of the Chiefs of the Confederation, and of the high Chiefs who had not yet signed the Declaration of Independence, for the purpose of explaining to them the commands I had received from Her Majesty the Queen, and of laying before them the copy of a Treaty which I had to propose for their consideration.

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Accordingly, a vast number of Chiefs, with a multitude of followers, crowded in from every quarter, and at 12 this day they assembled under the spacious tents, decorated with flags, which had been previously erected at Waitangi by the direction of Captain Niaz, of this ship.

And so on with several other despatches of Lieutenant-Governor Hobson to His Excellency Sir George Gipps, and also to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

With the foregoing remarks and extracts from Parliamentary documents, we leave these sheets to the scrutiny of all interested inquirers. However curious they may appear now, they will become much more so as time rolls on; and whatever may be the opinions of the present or future generations as to the policy adopted in 1840, it is certain that, without some such agreement between the two races as was determined by "The Treaty of Waitangi," the Queen's authority and government would never have been so peaceably admitted and established in this country.

H. Hanson Turton.

Wellington, 10th. April, 1887.